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Business CardsRedesign of company cards for the 100th-employee milestone

When it came time to design Emma's new business cards in tandem with the arrival of the 100th employee, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

How can a business card help our employees make each encounter memorable and unique in the age of social media, email and smart phones? I started by considering the essence of a business card: a slip of paper with information you want to remember at a future date. Whether it's information that's printed or a note that you jot down to remember the context of the interaction, these cards needed to have more staying power than the average business card. Enter the fold.

Our previous cards were printed on 100# silk cover stock, a beautifully tactile paper that also happened to show every mark, dent and failed attempt to write on its surface with anything other than a sharpie. The new cards were printed on smooth, 100% recyclable uncoated paper with a fold that gave our employees ample space inside to add a personal note about an event, a recommended link or twitter handle, etc. that would help the recipient remember the exchange at a later date.

The fold allowed the cards to stand up on a flat surface giving them extra dimension at trade show events and a fun factor if you collected enough to make a tower. They also make excellent bookmarks.